And if he'd been waiting to exhale, on-the-ropes President Pervez Musharraf can breathe a little easier for the time being.

Why? The great opposition coalition aiming to oust him from power -- the Pakistan People's Party headed by Benazir Bhutto widower, Asif Ali Zardari, and the Pakistan Muslim League-N, headed by former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif -- is falling apart over disagreement on the reinstatement of about 60 judges dismissed last November by Musharraf. Why are they so important? Because the judges -- including fired Chief Justice Iftikhar Chaudhry -- could rule unfavorably to the president on the legality of Musharraf's re-election.

Nine PML-N ministers resigned from the goverment today, the day after Sharif said the judges would be reinstated. More from the wires:

"The ministers submitted their resignations to Yousuf Raza Gilani, the incumbent prime minister, on Tuesday.

However, Gilani has reportedly refused to accept the resignations.

Sharif said on Monday that the PML-N was 'bound by this date,' referring to a deadline he set with his main coalition partner, the party of assassinated former prime minister Benazir Bhutto, for judges sacked by Pervez Musharraf, the president, to be reinstated.

However, he said his party would not take any decision that would strengthen the 'dictatorship,' referring to Musharraf.

The PML-N has pledged to continue supporting the six-week-old coalition from outside the government, the prime minister's office said."

According to Pakistan's Daily Times, Gilani was waiting to address the resignations until Zardari got back in the country.

The disagreement between the PPP and PML-N is all a matter of tactics: Sharif wants confrontation with Musharraf now, while Zardari wants to wait.

But there also seems to be some suspicion, if you read the story in Pakistan's largest English-language daily paper, Dawn, about final intentions within the coalition:

"However, (Sharif) said: 'We will not become part of any conspiracy to strengthen dictatorship and not become a tool in the hands of any person.' He said the party had decided not to sit in the opposition for the time being and to continue to support the government on an issue-to-issue basis."

So there seems to be some serious distrust about whether Zardari's party actually intends to oust Musharraf.

First, the anointed one, Dmitry Medvedev, moved into his appointed spot as president of Russia. Before you could say "borscht," the man who got the technocrat into the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin, assumed his promised role as prime minister. Now, Medvedev's cabinet looks oddly familiar -- it's stacked with Putin's favorites.

Al-Jazeera noticed that some other things haven't changed since the nominal power switcheroo this month:

"On Monday, Russian television footage showed the meeting where the country's leaders proclaimed a new cabinet line-up. Vladimir Putin, the incoming prime minister, was shown seated on the same side of a table that he always occupied as president, while Dmitry Medvedev, technically his new boss, occupied the side traditionally kept for subordinates.

While the cabinet contains few surprises, it certainly illustrates Putin's continued hold on power.

Key ministers who have performed well as close Putin loyalists retain their posts: Sergey Lavrov, the most visible face of Russia's foreign policy; Alexei Kudrin, who keeps hold of finance; and Anatoly Serdyukov, the defence minister.

Viktor Zubkov, a former prime minister and a longtime friend of Putin, remains as deputy prime minister and will likely take up the post of chairman of Gazprom next month.

These appointments illustrate Putin's influence in key areas. Only Sergei Ivanov takes a hit. The hawkish former first deputy prime minister becomes merely a deputy prime minister, a sign perhaps of a more moderate cabinet (or it could be something else entirely).

Also, Putin has brought key behind-the-scenes figures across from the Kremlin and into the government. The most significant, Igor Sechin, was deputy chief of staff and heads oil giant Rosneft. He is said to be a hardliner and head of the Kremlin old guard, or siloviki, a shadowy but very powerful group often believed to be the real power behind the throne."

Keep an eye on Russia, folks. Press freedom has already faded in the country, a canary in the coal mine that shows the subsequent diminishing democracy. Russia's neighbors have more reason to be nervous about this absolute power, as well.

(Photo: Russian Presidential Press and Information Office)

Felt as far away as Vietnam, Thailand, and Taiwan, the massive temblor struck Sichuan province at 2:28 p.m. -- that's just east of Tibet, a region that has already seen misery lately as ethnic Tibetans joining in anti-government protests came under the People Republic's crackdown. One of the casualties was a school that collapsed, trapping about 900 students under rubble, reports the Associated Press:

"The official Xinhua News Agency said 8,533 people died in Sichuan alone and dozens of other deaths were reported in surrounding areas.

Xinhua said 80 percent of the buildings had collapsed in Sichuan province's Beichuan county after the quake, raising fears the overall death toll could increase sharply.

State media said a chemical plant in Shifang city had cratered, burying hundreds of people and spilling more than 80 tons of toxic liquid ammonia from the site."

The New York Times has a photo gallery of the damage.

As always when the earth lets loose, check out the U.S. Geological Survery quake tracking site. They're showing a magnitude of 7.9, slightly higher than press reports, but in the initial hours after a quake either the press or USGS numbers might be revised due to further study of the event.

UPDATE: The death toll is now being reported at around 10,000, and is expected to climb.

(Map: USGS)

It's only been nine days since Category 4 Cyclone Nargis slammed into Burmese villages. It's not like the world has been dragging its heels in coming to the people's aid. Rather, the junta that rules Myanmar has been paranoid about keeping the philanthropists off their soil, wanting donations dropped off like the bin outside Goodwill so they can take it from there. Where the aid will really go, nobody knows.

Yet after "prolonged negotiations" with the junta -- as the death toll could top 100,000 and one to two million residents remain severely affected by the storm -- American aid was finally allowed to land, its carrier then promptly ushered back into the sky. This just moving from the Associated Press:

"The unarmed military C-130 cargo plane, packed with supplies, flew out of the Thai air force base of Utapao and landed in Yangon. Two more air shipments are scheduled to land Tuesday.

After the plane's arrival, the supplies were transferred to Myanmar army trucks.

...In the hardest hit Irrawaddy delta, people were surviving in miserable conditions — hundreds crowded into monasteries, where they slept on the floor. Others camped outside, drinking water contaminated by human feces, dead bodies and animal carcasses.

Heavy rains were forecast this week, which would further hinder aid delivery.

'So far we have enough water by collecting rain. But we do not have food anymore,' said U Patanyale, the abbot of a monastery in Pyapon town in the delta."

Outbreaks of diarrhea are being reported, and potential outbreaks of illnesses such as cholera, malaria, or dengue, according to aid experts, could be prevented if experts would just be allowed in the country to assess shelter and sanitation needs and coordinate relief efforts.

As it is, bloated bodies choke waterways and hang twisted in trees, with no one to pick them up as the survivors are shouldered with the herculean task of just finding the basics needed to survive. From AP:

"'The first few we saw, we were all very shocked,' said U Pinyatale, a monk from the area who has prayed for the dead. 'After a while, there were just too many.'

More than 50 bodies can be spotted in just three hours on the river. Many have turned white as they float entwined in mangrove trees, where they remain lodged. The smell of dead fish permeates the humid air as dozens of small boats ferrying roofing supplies and rice navigate around the corpses, but no one seems to notice.

...The monk, Pinyatale, said some people simply want the bodies to be sucked out to sea because they believe if someone touches them, that person will be cursed with bad luck and haunted by the unsettled spirit."

The story notes that in Indonesia after the 2005 Boxing Day tsunami, bodies were quickly buried in accordance with Islamic law, and bodies were collected in refrigerated storage in Thailand for later identification. But they also had resources and manpower beyond what the junta is allowing to cross Myanmar's borders.

And speaking of those allowed in by the regime, you'll notice that most wire stories and photos are coming across sans byline and without photo credits. No use risking being caught and tossed out by the junta simply for trying to spread the truth to the rest of the world.

STORM COVERAGE: Myanmar Ignores Storm Victims, Proceeds With Vote

Burma's Cyclone Death Toll Is Staggering

(Satellite image of Cyclone Nargis: NOAA)

The amounts of money owed by the thousands of farmers taking their own lives would seem really managable to most of us, recession or not. But the crop-to-crop woes leave many of India's growers feeling left behind as the country embraces globalization.

The Associated Press examines this troubling trend in the second-most populated country on Earth today:

"On the last night of his life, the farmer walked into his dusty fields, choked down pesticide and waited to die.

He owed more than $1,000 to banks and moneylenders and he had told his wife that if the cotton harvest was bad this year, he would kill himself.

Pandurang Chindu Surpam left the near-barren fields he worked with his sons to share a last meal with his family. Hours later, he died. He was 45.

...Farmers like Surpam killed themselves at a rate of 48 a day between 2002 and 2006 -- more than 17,500 a year, according to experts who have analyzed government statistics. At least 160,000 farmers have committed suicide since 1997, said K. Nagaraj of the Madras Institute of Development Studies.

The epidemic dates to the 1990s, and is generally attributed to a toxic blend of slashed subsidies, tougher global competition, drought, predatory moneylenders and expensive genetically modified seeds.

'It's one of the largest public health disasters to hit India since independence,' said professor Charles Nuckols of Brigham Young University, an anthropologist who has studied Indian village life for decades.

In northern India, authorities have gone so far as to ban a type of cheap hair dye because it was being drunk to induce death by kidney failure.

But it is India's cotton belt, a land of searing temperatures and backbreaking work, that has been hit hardest by the suicides. ..."

(Map: U.S. State Department)

Chalk one up for Boris Tadic -- his pro-European Democratic Party has eked out a victory in parliamentary elections over the Radical Party. (The ultranationalists share the views of nationalists such as conservative Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica in favoring closer ties with Russia over the goal of European Union membership.)

More from the Associated Press:

"Independent monitors said Tadic's coalition had about 38 percent of the vote with about 50 percent of the vote counted nationwide. They said the ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party was running a distant second with 28 percent.

Tadic described Sunday's win as 'convincing' and said it shows that a majority of Serbia's citizens want to join the European Union. But Tadic also said his government would never recognize Kosovo's statehood.

The ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party clung to a slim lead heading into parliamentary elections, closely trailed by President Boris Tadic's pro-Western coalition."

Al-Jazeera looks at how the parlimentary vote will translate into real-world coalition blocs:

"Omar Khalifa, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Belgrade, said that despite their victory claim, the pro-EU parties are in some difficulty.

Tadic's party can only achieve 119 seats - or with the minority parties 122 at best - which is not enough to take the required 126 seat majority in parliament.

By contrast, the DSS, with the Radical party and the Socialist party, can realistically combine to produce 127 seats, giving them enough for a majority governing coalition."

So it's decidedly a mixed bag for Boris.

Serbia also extended its elections to newly independent Kosovo, over the objections of the United Nations and ethnic Albanians who accuse Belgrade of trying to stir separatist feelings within Kosovo's two main communities.

As about a million Burmese have no roof over their heads, and up to 100,000 have perished in Cyclone Nargis, the junta in Myanmar is trying to push Burmese to the polls today to vote on a constitutional referendum. The lack of response to the victims -- like hampering international aid efforts -- is staggering, as is the government's seizure of aid shipments Friday:

"Myanmar's junta seized two planeloads of UN aid shipments meant for a multitude of hungry survivors of last week's devastating cyclone, prompting the world body to suspend further help, UN officials said Friday.

'All of the food aid and equipment that we managed to get in has been confiscated,' said Paul Risley, a spokesman for the UN's World Food Program in Bangkok.

The seized aid, including 38 tons of high-energy biscuits, arrived on two flights from Dhaka, Bangladesh, and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. 'It is being held by the government,' he said."

But referendums are much easier for the government to fix win when your opposition is occupied with other things -- for example, Buddhist monks who have led anti-junta demonstrations are now sheltering storm victims, cleaning up debris, and generally doing everything the government won't do.

From Al-Jazeera:

"The referendum got under way on Saturday in much of the country, though in the areas hardest hit by Cyclone Nargis the vote was postponed for two weeks.

Some 27 million of Myanmar's 57 million people are eligible to vote, although it was unclear how many would vote on Saturday and how many will vote on May 24 instead.

But the cyclone has overshadowed the vote, which even before the disaster many saw as being skewed in the military's favour.

...State-run TV news repeated broadcasts urging people to vote, making no mention of the tens of thousands killed and missing in the cyclone.

'Those who value the national well-being should go and vote "yes",' MRTV said in a scrolling headline."

The referendum, which the junta claims is a "road map to democracy," bans pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from ever holding public office and guarantees 25 percent of all parliamentary seats to the military.

Q&A: Is the country called Burma or Myanmar?

(Photo by Getty News)

Ahh, Hassan Nasrallah is always good for a sound bite. Unfortunately, the Hezbollah leader heads up a force that is well-armed (rearmed in defiance of Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah conflict, as several sources have confirmed to me) and seems to be itching for the next clash. Taking down the U.S.-backed Lebanese government of Fuad Saniora, pictured, is a long-held desire of Nasrallah, and that is apparently the direction he's going.

More:

"Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah warned on Thursday that a Lebanese government crackdown on his group was tantamount to a 'declaration of war' as clashes escalated between supporters of rival political factions in the deeply divided country.

Nasrallah issued his ominous statement on the second day of anti-government protests, with gunfights in several parts of the country, roads blocked and Lebanon's only international airport effectively shut down.

'The decisions (of the government) are tantamount to a declaration of war and the start of a war... on behalf of the United States and Israel,' a defiant Nasrallah said at a rare press conference via video link.

The Lebanese government on Tuesday launched a probe into a Hezbollah communication network and reassigned the head of airport security over his alleged links to Nasrallah's powerful Shiite militant group.

'Our answer to this decision is this,' Nasrallah said. 'We have the right to confront he who starts a war with us by defending our rights and our weapons.' As the long-running political crisis threatened to spiral out of control, at least eight people were reported wounded in clashes pitting mainly Sunni Muslim supporters of the Western-backed government against Shiite followers of the Hezbollah-led opposition. The army command warned that 'if this situation continues, everyone will lose and this will affect the unity of the military.' And newspapers drew parallels with the lead-up to the devastating 1975-1990 civil war."

Egypt and Saudi Arabia have both blamed the Hezbollah-led opposition for escalating tensions, and Egypt reiterated its support for Saniora. Syria and Iran, of course, back Hezbollah.

Lebanon still lacks a president since Emile Lahoud left office in November.

(Photo by Cate Gillon/Getty Images)

Suffice to say this could increase religious tensions in the country -- but it should also be expected of a country that claims to be moderate. Suffice to also say that such a decision in a Muslim nation -- because of all the accompanying pressures -- is rare. More:

"Othman Ibrahim, Penang Sharia Court judge, said he had no choice but to allow an application by Siti Fatimah Tan Abdullah, a Malaysian citizen of Chinese origin, to renounce her faith and return to Buddhism.

...Siti Fatimah or Tan Ean Huang, 38, said she had never practised Islam since she converted in 1998 and only did so to enable her to marry Iranian Ferdoun Ashanian.

The couple married in 2004 but since then her husband has left her following which she filed for the renunciation.

Othman said it was clear from witnesses and the evidence presented that Siti had continued to practise Buddhism even after her conversion.

He rebuked the state council for not counselling and looking after the welfare of new converts.

'In this case, it is clear that the council has failed to live up to its responsibilities and the outcome is clear for all to see,' he said."

That rebuke is particularly interesting: Almost as if to shield the inevitable criticism of allowing a convert to return to her original faith, the judge places blame upon the state for not making sure the convert became a good Muslim.

On first glance, media reports have been branding this as either a racial vote to separate from the country's indigenous population, or the country's wealthy just wanting to rule a wealthy patch for themselves. But the overwhelming passage of the referendum on Santa Cruz's autonomy has everything to do with far-left President Evo Morales, and fears of nationalization and property seizures in the name of a Hugo Chavez-styled "Bolivarian revolution."

Case in point is the reaction from Socialist Worker:

"The referendum was organised to defend the interests of the wealthy landowners and businessmen of the area.

Poor farmers and indigenous Indian communities know that they can expect little in the way of social or economic justice if the elite of the state seizes control of Santa Cruz.

This elite represents the forces that have held power in Bolivia for two centuries.

The Morales government was elected with the promise of challenging these powerful forces in order to redistribute wealth towards those who for centuries had been the victims of the exploitation of the country’s resources."

The Washington Post has the gist of the story:

"Morales had urged his supporters to ignore the referendum, but turnout was unofficially reported at 61 percent. Multiple exit polls suggested Sunday about 85 percent of Santa Cruz voters voted in favor of the proposal, but final results were not expected before Monday.

The measure directs Santa Cruz authorities -- mainly business leaders who detest Morales's socialist initiatives -- to take more control of locally produced tax revenue, police forces and property ownership administration.

The measure, considered the most serious challenge yet to Morales's presidency, intensified long-standing regional divisions that have made social unrest a defining feature of the political landscape. Scattered clashes between voters and Morales's supporters erupted throughout the day, but the massive disorder that some had feared did not occur.

'It's a historic day, and tomorrow we have more work to do,' said Branko Marinkovic, a leader of the Santa Cruz autonomy movement. 'We have to determine a new course for Bolivia, and it won't be an easy task.'

Because the national government considers the referendum illegal, its true effect remains unclear. Morales, who had likened it to a nonbinding opinion poll, on Sunday night dismissed it as 'a failure.'

'This poll, which is illegal and unconstitutional, was not the success that they hoped for,' Morales said during a televised speech, which was delivered while thousands filled the streets of Santa Cruz in a massive victory celebration. '. . . Between the abstention rate of 39 percent, the votes 'no' and the blank ballots, that is practically 50 percent.'

Political analysts predicted that the voters' approval of the measure, however, will give regional leaders traction that could force negotiations in an ideological stalemate over divisions of power. Or it could make an eventual collision even more jarring. ..."

Interestingly, the U.S. has not supported the breakaway region and has backed Bolivian unity, after Chavez and Co. accused the Americans of fueling the opposition behind the scenes. "We urge Bolivia's leaders to use this opportunity to consolidate democracy and promote reconciliation, and build a consensus on Bolivia's future," U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey said in a statement after the vote. "We call on all sides to reject violence and exercise restraint during this period. ... And we continue to support Bolivia's unity and territorial integrity and are committed to strengthening democracy and promoting prosperity for all its people."

(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)